Not Half Bad
by surf all day and do the hula
Summary: SPOILERS FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS! Albus Severus Potter is starting at Hogwarts, making friends all over the place, hearing about his hero father and trying to live up to his namesakes.


**I probably shouldnt be starting a new story, but what the hey, all I've been thinking about lately is the Deathly Hallows and I'm sure it's driving my family nuts. So I had to write.**

**Disclaimer: yeahhhhh i wish i owned harry. i'd be very happy and rich.**

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Albus was quite small for his age, and was the only one of the three Potter children who looked exactly like their father. He had untidy black hair that would not lie flat, he was small and skinny with bright green eyes, Lily's eyes, Harry used to say, although his younger sister, who's name was also Lily, found this confusing when she was little and would shout 'but I have brown eyes!' 

With one last fearful goodbye to his parents and younger sister, Albus Severus Potter boarded the Hogwarts express with his cousin Rose Weasley.

'Do you have a compartment yet?' Albus asked his cousin, even though it was obvious that she didn't.

Rose shook her head, her wild, curly red bouncing everywhere. 'Come on, let's find some other first years.'

They set off down the train, passing their cousin Victoire, the only Weasley girl to have blonde hair, who smiled and waved, before going back to chatting with her seventh year friends, and James, Albus' older brother, who just gave them a look that clearly said 'Keep moving buddy' until they finally found a compartment with two boys, one who looked both excited and bored. The reason for the source of boredom was obvious; he was sharing with another Weasley, their cousin Michael.

'Hey Michael,' Rose said sitting down next to their cousin. Michael was Percy Weasley's son, and both Rose and Albus agreed that it would be extremely boring living with Uncle Percy, and that was how Michael had ended up like he was.

'Hello,' Michael replied politely. 'This is Tristan Wood; he's a first year too.'

'Hi, I'm Albus, and this is Rose, they're both my cousins,' Albus said sitting down. Tristan had sandy blond hair and brown eyes, he was taller than Michael and looked like the sort of kid who had spent his whole life playing sport.

'Wood? As in Oliver Wood? The old English Keeper?' Albus asked.

'Yeah,' Tristan said going pink, 'He's my dad.'

'Wow! My dad was his team when he went to Hogwarts!' Albus said excitedly. 'He was the Seeker on the Gryffindor team! And her dad took over as Keeper when Wood left!'

'Really? Wait, that means, your dad is Harry Potter!' Tristan exclaimed.

This time it was Albus who went pink.

'Yeah,' Albus replied, almost drearily. He used to think it was cool that his dad had saved the wizarding world, but at eleven years it was just one of those things that happened years and years ago that didn't really matter any more.

Rose tactfully changed the subject, before Albus fell asleep with boredom and things became awkward.

'So do you have any idea what house you'll be in?' she asked Tristan.

'Not really, I guess, but I hope its Gryffindor, like my parents and sister,' Tristan said. 'Her name's Libby and is in fourth year. Do you have family here?'

'I have my brother James, he's in third year, these two of course, one cousin in fifth year, that's Michael's brother, his name is Nicholas, and one in seventh years, her name's Victoire and is Head Girl. They're all in Gryffindor too,' Albus said. 'If I get put in Slytherin…'

Albus shuddered.

'It's okay if you get put in Slytherin, your dad wont mind as much; _mine_ practically said he'd toss me out of the family!' Rose said, clearly upset by the thought of it.

'Well, my father always said Uncle Ron was always impulsive, never thinking,' Michael said pompously.

Rose's ears went pink, 'Well, my dad said Uncle Percy was far too proud and smart for his own good, and –'

'Rose!' Albus interjected, this wasn't the time for a family feud.

The four kids sat talking about everything from Quidditch, their families (although staying away from the potentially arguable information) and stories they'd heard about Hogwarts. At various times throughout the trip, other students would poke their head through the compartment doors, searching for friends, first years would introduce themselves and older students would move on with a quick 'sorry'.

Around one o'clock a witch came around asking if they wanted anything from the trolley. Albus and Rose, for the first time without their mother's fussing about their health, bought a few of everything and shared with the others. They sat there gorging until Michael announced that they would be arriving at Hogwarts soon and that they should begin to change into their new uniforms.

The sky outside had darkened and eventually the train pulled to a stop. A booming voice sounded 'Please leave all belongings on the train,' and they stepped onto the platform where hundreds of students where rushing around them.

'Firs' years this way! Firs' years this way!' Rose and Albus turned to see Hagrid, a friend of their parents, who was rumored to be half-giant. He had wild graying hair and kind black eyes.

'Well look! It's Albus Potter! And Rose Weasley!' he said. 'I'll see you kids later, jus' line up here – firs' years this way!'

When they all assembled Hagrid led them down a narrow path, to the black lake with numerous little boats on the shore. 'Four only to a boat, c'mon, hurry up.'

Rose, Albus and Tristan climbed into a boat Michael had run to quickly and found that the boats sailed themselves across the lake. And then Hogwarts appeared, the forty odd students gasped at the site, and Hagrid smiled at their delight.

When they arrived at the castle they were greeted by a pretty curly haired witch, the sort most of the boys would have a crush on.

'This is Professor Clearwater, she's the Transfiguration teacher and head of Ravenclaw,' Hagrid said.

'Thank you Hagrid,' Professor Clearwater said, leading them inside.

Inside the castle was magnificent, directly ahead of them was a large marble staircase, to one side they could hear the students behind the double doors which led into the Great Hall. But Professor Clearwater led them straight past that and into a small room off to the side.

'Welcome to Hogwarts, I am, as Hagrid said, Professor Clearwater, now in a moment you will walk through that door,' she indicated to the door on her left, 'And will be sorted into one of the four houses, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and virtues.

'When you are sorted your house will be like your family, and each house will compete for the House Cup. Points may be awarded through academic achievement, hard work and doing the right thing, they can also be lost through rule breaking, fighting with peers and disrespect.

'In just a minute I will lead you into the Great Hall where you will then be sorted and sit with your houses.'

And with that she left, leaving the students in an awkward position not knowing what to do and what would happen.

Albus tried to remember what James had said about being sorted, and for some reason the word pain came up in mind. He looked around at Rose who seemed very calm. After what felt like hours, although only about two minutes had passed, Professor Clearwater came back and beckoned them to follow her.

The first years all gasped as they entered the hall, four long tables for the four houses, and one for the teachers at the end of the hall. In the middle was a stern looking old witch, whose grey hair was pulled back into a tight bun, she smiled as the first years lined up in front of the teachers table.

So she was Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress, Albus thought. He also spotted Neville Longbottom, the Herbology teacher and friend of his parents. Neville waved cheerfully and Albus waved back.

'When I call your name, I want you to come down here, and place the hat on your head. When it calls your house you are to take a seat at the selected table.'

Albus spun around to see the old and tatty hat, which looked like it would fall apart if it was touched, but when Aarons, Jessica tried it on, it looked as though it was thinking for a moment before shouting out 'HUFFLEPUFF!'

'Brisser, Joseph.'

'SLYTHERIN!'

Albus looked at the first member of Slytherin; he was tall, with dark messy hair and grey eyes.

One by one the first years were distributed among the houses, and then Clearwater reached 'Malfoy, Scorpius.'

Albus recognized the name Malfoy, he had heard it often during stories about his parents times at Hogwarts and during the war. Scorpius was pale, with white blond hair, blue eyes and the same pointed face as his father.

'SLYTHERIN!' the hat eventually called out and Scorpius looked relieved as he sat down next to Joseph Brisser.

'Potter, Albus.'

With a nudge from Rose, he moved towards the hat and placed it on his head. Albus had decided earlier that if the hate chose Slytherin it would be okay, after all, he was named after one.

'Tricky, just like your father,' a voice whispered in his ear. 'Lets see Slytherin or Gryffindor, you'd do well in both, but you'd do even better in SLYTHERIN!'

Albus gasped, and saw James' look of shock down at the Gryffindor table. He slowly stood up and walked over to the cheering Slytherin table, sitting next to Scorpius, they didn't seem that bad, he thought.

'Hi, I'm Scorpius Malfoy,' he said holding his hand out, which Albus shook. 'This is Joe Brisser. Your dad is Harry Potter, isn't he?'

Albus nodded, 'yeah.'

'A Potter in Slytherin? Now that's a first,' Joe said.

But Albus didn't reply as there were now only a few first years left, Michael had just been sorted into Gryffindor and it was now Rose's turn.

'GRYFFINDOR!'

Albus groaned, it would have been much better if Rose was in Slytherin too.

'Wood, Ryan.'

'GRYFFINDOR!'

So he was the only one of his friends and family in Slytherin, well Scorpius and Joe seemed friendly enough and he would be promoting inter house friendship…

Soon the sorting was over, when Lisette Zabini joined them at the Slytherin table. Professor McGonagall stood up and the students almost immediately finished talking.

'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, before we start to eat, as I'm sure you are all starving, just a few start of term reminders: the Forbidden Forest is, as the name suggest, _forbidden_ and therefore not to be entered. Quidditch tryouts will begin next week for all interested and first years are reminded they are not permitted to play House Quidditch. And lastly, the current list of banned items, many Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, can be found in the caretaker, Gilderoy Lockhart's office on the second floor. Thank you, and tuck in!'

At those last words plates and plates of food appeared with just about every meal imaginable. Albus ate as much of it as his stomach could hold. He laughed and joked with the other Slytherins and gasped along with the other first years when the ghosts appeared. The Bloody Baron only slightly turning Albus off his lemon meringue pie.

When all the food had finally disappeared, Professor McGonagall dismissed them, and they were led to the Slytherin common room by an extremely thin sixth year girl.

'I'm Pearl Renata, I'm a prefect, and the password is _heir_,' she said in a non to friendly voice as what seemed to be a solid wall slid away. 'Forget it and you're obviously an idiot.'

The first years walked from the draughty dungeons corridor into the warm and spacious Slytherin common room, decorated with green and silver banners, large chairs and tables and a roaring fire.

'The girls' rooms are over there on the right, and the boys' on the left,' and with that Pearl Renata stalked off into the right corridor and down to her dormitory. Albus guessed that it wasn't the best job showing the first years around.

At the far end of the corridor, was the first year's room, with four beds lined up, four posters with green and silver curtains and bedcovers. They found that all their belongings had been brought up, and their new Slytherin ties, scarves and emblems for their cloaks.

All of the boys then changed into their pyjamas and then went straight to bed, falling instantly asleep.

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**Hope you liked it, REVIEW!**

_everyone says Slytherin house is the worst place to be_

_-why?_

_just because the dungeons are so cold_

_-the dungeons are so cold_

_and we have to deal with greasy Sevy Snape_

_-ew_

_and because our souls have all been sold_

_-TO YOU KNOW WHO!_

**I should probably note that those lyrics belong to the Parselmouths.**


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